PURPOSE Plasma lipoprotein-associated phospholipase A₂ (Lp-PLA₂) binds to low-density lipoprotein. The levels of Lp-PLA₂ reflect the plaque burden, and are upregulated in acute coronary syndrome (ACS). We investigated the diagnostic value of Lp-PLA2 levels and found that it might be a potential biomarker for ACS. MATERIALS AND METHODS We classified 226 study participants into three groups: pa...

The hypocholesterolemic protective effect of the dried seed of Astragalus complanatus (ACS) was investigated in rats fed with normal diet, high cholesterol diet (HCD), and HCD plus 70% ethanol extract of ACS (600 mg/kg/day) by oral gavage for four weeks. ACS extract was tested to be rich in antioxidants, which may be contributed to its high content of phenolic compounds. Consumption of ACS rema...

Asymptomatic carotid stenosis (ACS) exceeding 50% is present in about 2% of 60-year-old patients and an even higher fraction of older individuals. The major independent risk factors include advancing age, male sex, tobacco smoking, and a history of vascular disease. The best available evidence does not support either population screening for ACS or routine carotid revascularization when ACS is ...

The aim of this study was to investigate the N-terminal brain natriuretic peptide precursor (NT-proBNP) levels in the peripheral blood of patients with acute coronary syndrome (ACS) and to provide the basis for its application in the early diagnosis of ACS. A total of 440 patients admitted to the hospital for examination and treatment were enrolled, including 330 patients with ACS and 110 cases...

Background and purpose Autologous conditioned serum (ACS) is a disease-modifying drug for treatment of osteoarthritis (OA). To establish that the autologous serum has protective effect on chondropathy. The aim of this study was evaluate the efficacy of ACS as osteoarthritis therapy. Methods Literature review for intraarticular ACS somministration in human study. Results and interpretation We an...

Descriptional composition is a method to fuse two term transformation algorithms described by attribute couplings (AC, attribute grammars over terms) into one. In this article, we provide a general categorical framework for the descriptional composition based on traced symmetric monoidal categories and the Int construction by Joyal et al. We demonstrate that this framework can handle the descri...

Recently, a genetic algorithm (GA) was introduced to the Anticipatory Classiier System (ACS) which surmounted the occasional problem of over-speciication of rules. This paper investigates the resulting generalization capabilities further by monitoring in detail the performance of the ACS in the highly challenging multiplexer task. Moreover, by comparing the ACS to XCS in this task it is shown t...

Autonomously replicating sequence (ARS) elements, which function as the cis-acting chromosomal replicators in the yeast Saccharomyces cerevisiae, depend upon an essential copy of the 11-bp ARS consensus sequence (ACS) for activity. Analysis of the chromosome III replicator ARS309 unexpectedly revealed that its essential ACS differs from the canonical ACS at two positions. One of the changes obs...

BACKGROUND Patients with a presumed diagnosis of acute coronary syndrome (ACS) or stroke may have had contact with several healthcare providers prior to hospital arrival. The aim of this study was to describe the various prehospital paths and the effect on time delays of patients with ACS or stroke. METHODS This prospective observational study included patients with presumed ACS or stroke who...

BACKGROUND The appropriateness of the routine performance of an oral glucose tolerance test (OGTT) to screen for diabetes mellitus (DM) during acute coronary syndrome hospitalization is still under debate. METHODS A systematic search of databases (MEDLINE [1985 to March 2012], EMBASE [1985 to March 2012]) was conducted. All prospective cohort studies assessing the accuracy or reproducibility ...